An Essex mum who used her illness to found a luxury designer brand of lingerie has taken the burlesque world by storm.

Ella Vine, 32, has been forced to wear compression stockings for the past twelve years after she developed thrombosis, which causes pain, swelling and tenderness, in her legs.

Tired of struggling with day-to-day suspender belts, Polish-born Ella decided to invent a 'poppy fastening' to make life easier.

But much to her surprise, the design has been hailed a genius invention by burlesque dancers across the world who use them.

"I have to wear compression hosiery for medical reasons and invented poppy suspenders simply because the traditional fastening was too difficult and it took too long to attach stockings to a suspender belt," said Ella, who moved to Thurrock in 2007.

"I wanted to help not only myself, but also other women.

A model wearing Ella Vine's designs

"When I created the design I thought about stockings and lingerie to go with it so it was great way to bring a whole brand with it.

"I created a whole range as there's a lot of competition out there."

The poppy fastening on Ella's suspender belt replaces the traditional fastening and makes life simpler and quicker for women to attach stockings to it.